Steve Nash has outraced Father Time for years, but early this season he seems as if he might finally be getting passed.

Nash is meticulous and committed to taking care of his body, but the hours he puts in now are not leading to the same productivity on the court — he is averaging 7.6 points a game on 29.9 percent shooting (but he is still hitting 45.5 percent from three). His assist percentage is right where it has been for years, he’s just not as quick, not finishing quite as well.

Friday night when the Lakers take on the up-and-coming Pelicans Nash will have the night off, not playing the second night of a back-to-back.

That’s about 18 months. So I’ve got to find a way to get through that and prove to myself every day that I can contribute.

Q: Do you envision any set of circumstances that would cause you to say, ‘You know what? Next season is not going to happen? I’m not going to be able to be the player I want to be?’

A: I don’t think so. I’m already not the player I want to be and just [have] a different body. My body’s different. I’m still trying to adjust and adapt and get my body to accept a certain amount of the pounding and forces and be able to adjust my game and still be productive. I still feel like I’ve got a lot of life left without basketball so I’m going to try to enjoy it and make the most of these last 18-20 months, whatever it is…..

Q: So in your mind, retirement is not a word that you …’

A: No. I’m not there yet. No.

Next summer Nash’s $9.7 million is the only major salary on the books (although the Lakers have to deal with the massive cap holds for Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol — those situations need to be resolved before they can make moves). There are a few Lakers fans who held out hope Nash could just hang up the sneakers and give the Lakers even more room to maneuver.

Not going to happen. You have another year of Nash, whatever the roster looks like.

In fact, in Saturday’s dunk contest, he didn’t look like a dunker at all.

The Pacers star missed all three attempts of his first dunk, and a Black Panther mask was by far the biggest draw of his second. Oladipo was eliminated after the first round.

Maybe Dennis Smith Jr. wasn’t the only eliminated dunker who left something in his bag. This Oladipo dunk – 180 degrees, throwing ball off the backboard with his left hand while in mid-air, dunking with his right hand – while preparing in Los Angeles was awesome.

A statement released Wednesday by the NFL and NBA clubs says their 90-year-old owner is resting comfortably at Ochsner Medical Center, a hospital which also serves as a major sponsor and which owns naming rights to the teams’ training headquarters.

Benson has owned the New Orleans Saints since 1985 and bought the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012.

In recent years, Benson has overhauled his estate plan so that his third wife, Gayle, would be first in line to inherit control of the two major professional franchises.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he’d be surprised if Kawhi Leonard played again this season, a stark reversal from just a month ago. Back then, even while announcing Leonard was out indefinitely with a quad injury, the San Antonio coach said Leonard wouldn’t miss the rest of the season.

After spending 10 days before the All-Star break in New York consulting with a specialist to gather a second opinion on his right quad injury, All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard bears the burden of determining when he’s prepared to play again, sources told ESPN.

Leonard has been medically cleared to return from the right quad tendinopathy injury, but since shutting down a nine-game return to the Spurs that ended Jan. 13, he has elected against returning to the active roster, sources said.

The uncertainty surrounding this season — and Leonard’s future which could include free agency in the summer of 2019 — has inspired a palpable stress around the organization, league sources said.

At first glance, this sounds like Derrick Rose five years ago. Even after he was cleared to play following a torn ACL, the then-Bulls star remained mysterious about when he’d suit up. His confidence in his physical abilities seemed to be a major issue, and he was never the same player since (suffering more leg injuries).

But the Spurs famously favor resting players to preserve long-term health. They seem unlikely to rush back Leonard. They might even sit players who want to play more often. And Leonard isn’t Rose.

Still, it’s clear something is amiss in San Antonio. Maybe not amiss enough to end Leonard’s tenure there, but the longer this lingers, the more time for tension to percolate.